


Space is big, and we are too small

by Whale_shark_prince



Series: voltron one shots [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Gen, Keith & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Keith (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Keith/Lance (Voltron) rivalry, One Shot, Outer Space, Panic Attacks, Rival Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-25 20:24:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14984912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whale_shark_prince/pseuds/Whale_shark_prince
Summary: Keith hates floating in open space, with nothing under his feet and no way to move. Allura doesn't know this and makes him go fix something on the outside of the ship.trigger warning: description of a panic attack





	Space is big, and we are too small

**Author's Note:**

> this was actually for my English class, but the thing is that my English teacher hasn't watched Voltron so haha I got to write fanfiction as part of my final exam (you can decide if that's sad or not)

Being in space had taught Keith a bunch of things... Like if you forget to wear a helmet outside, you will die. That, like in movies and cartoons, you do float around when you’re in zero gravity, but you can't swim through the air. In actuality, you just end up floating around until the gravity is switched on and you end up face planting on the floor. (he’d learned that the hard way when the artificial gravity on the alien castle-ship had been switched off). He’d also learned he was terrified where there was physically nothing under him and he was just floating around. He much preferred a hard surface under his feet at all times.

That proved to be a problem when all around you was vast, empty space. 

“H-hey guys? I need- I need some help out here,” he said into the little mic in his helmet, something he remembered was keeping him alive from the deadly space just a few centimetres from the tip of his nose. Anxiety was filling up his chest and making it hard to breathe. Somehow the test on the alien space vessel had gone wrong and now he was just floating there. He felt like he was falling and staying still at the same time, and he hated it. 

He heard someone click on the communicator and then Lance’s voice filled the deafening quiet around him. “Don't worry, mullet. Just use the jetpack in your suit.” the other boy was mocking him. Keith could practically hear the smirk he was absolutely sure was plastered across Lance’s face. The suttle humming noise that usually indicated that the communicator was on cut off, signalling that Lance had turned off the connection between their helmets. 

Now Keith was alone in the consuming emptiness of space. God, why had he become a fighter pilot?

Keith tried to remember how he turned on the propulsion device attached to his suit, but his mind could only focus on the fact that he was floating around in space. “Keep it together,” he said aloud, not caring if he was talking to himself or if Lance would tease him later for it. “You can do this, you've done it before,” he found the little switch on the side of his helmet and flicked it, immediately the jetpack roared to life, rocketing him forward so fast Keith forgot how to breathe. 

Going fast in a spacecraft with thick metal walls to protect you was one thing. Going fast when the only thing to protect you from being impaled on an alien space castle was only a thin layer of fabric and plastic was something completely different. His mind blanked out and he shut his eyes, waiting for the feeling of all his bones being broken as he smashed into the side of the space caste.

“Jesus, Keith. Pull yourself together.” a voice filled the space inside his helmet again. Keith didn't want to open his eyes. Hitting a space castle didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. 

“Am I dead?”

“No Keith, you are definitely not dead.” the voice laughed and Keith snapped his eyes open. There he was in all of his glory, the stupid wannabe fighter pilot from the garrison, that had supposedly taken Keith’s place after he got kicked out. 

‘the name’s Lance’ was how he’d introduced himself as if Keith would be able to forget him. His cocky and self-centred personality had definitely had put him on Keith's ‘I-will-strangle-you-at-any-second’ list.

“Are you just going to stare at me, or are you going to thank me for saving your life?” even though the darkened protective visor Keith could see his stupid grin, mocking him.

‘Dont punch him.’ Keith thought. ‘At least wait until you're inside.’ 

“Thanks, I guess.” Keith managed to choke out, his mouth kept trying to spit things out before he could actually say them. “I was perfectly fine, so you didn't- so you didn't have to come out here and get me.” He knew he was lying, he’d probably have died without Lance, or at least been knocked unconscious and broken some bones by literally smashing himself into a freaking castle. Just thinking about it made his head spin and his breathing spread up, even without communicators Lance would have been able to hear him hyperventilating through his helmet.

Lance did something very un-lance-ish and just skeptically raised an eyebrow, they both knew what Keith had said was a lie. Maybe he was just saving the knowledge about Keith's vulnerability until they got inside and Lance could embarrass him in front of all the other members of the crew.

“Alright. Please calm down, you're going to use of up all your oxygen before we even get back to the castle.” and with that Lance propelled them both back to the castle, Keith too fazed and dizzy to comprehend what was going on.

But that never happened. Even after a few days had passed since the incident, Lance hadn’t mentioned a word to anyone about Keith’s moment of weakness. Maybe it was because Lance knew Keith could kick his ass at (almost) everything.

When even more days passed and Lance still hasn’t brought up Keith practically crying because he didn’t like being out in open space, Keith was curious about why. Lance brought up everything else. Teasing him about how he was a loner for living on his own after being kicked out of pilot school, or Keith’s haircut, or really anything about Keith. Why not this perfect piece of evidence of Keith’s fear?

Keith could not wrap his mind around it, so he went to Lance’s room to get some answers.

“Why haven't you mentioned the jetpack incident yet?” Keith asked after Lance had begrudgingly let him into his room. Keith was being rather forward about the whole thing.  
“I mean, clearly you have something against me, so why not broadcast it to the entirety of space?” Keith took in a deep breath before doing his best impression of Lance’s voice “Keith is such a bad pilot and to top it off he's scared of space! Ha ha what a loser.” 

“You really think I’m that mean?” Lance growled, anger rising in his voice. “Do you really want me to tell the whole team that you're terrified of open space? Do you really want me to do that? Because I can.” Keith had never seen Lance this upset, maybe this wasn't such a smart idea. But what surprised him more was when Lance sighed, and took a deep breath, seemingly to calm himself down. And then what really surprised him was when Lance apologized. “Sorry, just… I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of a panic attack. They're... not fun.” Keith nodded in agreement. Definitely not fun. “So why would I share that with everyone else? That's not fair to you.” 

Lance sighed, “look, I know I can be a be a pain, but I’d never want someone to share why I had a panic attack with anyone else, so I would never do the same thing to you.” and then he smiled. “But this way I guess I know what stone cold Keith Kogane’s weakness is.”

There was the Lance he knew. 

“Are you really that scared of open space?” Lance asked. At first, Keith thought he was teasing him, but when he looked up from the floor he found that the other boy was just asking a simple question. It seemed innocent enough.

“I guess?” Keith didn't really want to talk about it. Just the thought of it made his stomach drop, almost gagging when he thought about how space could easily swallow him and everyone else up.

“Oh my- I am so sorry,” Lance said, pulling Keith over to his bed. That was a good move on Lance’s part because Keith was starting to feel dizzy. 

“Alright. So obviously you shouldn’t be put on outside maintenance duty. “Lance teased, but obviously there was no actual taunt behind the words.

“Yeah,” Keith mumbled, shutting his eyes as Lance rubbed comforting circles on his back.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Keith asked a little bit later when his head wasn't as foggy.

“Because I know what you're going through, and I shouldn't make you feel worse about it.” Lance smiled, “and anyway, what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help you out?”

“So we’re friends now?” Keith asked, cocking an eyebrow. 

“How about we settle for rivals.” Lance shrugged “friendly rivals.”


End file.
